iPad Review: Fruit Ninja - Puss in Boots HD

Hola, amigos! It is I, Puss in Boots, come to show you my exciting game. Ok, ok, Puss, I get it - you’ll get your turn soon! Today, we take Fruit Ninja and put a fun twist on it to become Fruit Ninja - Puss in Boots HD!

This time, Puss in Boots is your sensei; the sensei from the original Fruit Ninja is nowhere to be found. But no worries, Puss in Boots has made sure that you will learn well from him. And he hope that you do because he has quite a few tricks up his sleeve. Instead of the arcade mode, classic, and zen modes, we have what are known as “Desperado” and “Bandito” modes.

“Desperado” is similar to the “Classic” mode of Fruit Ninja: your primary objective is to survive without hitting any of the bombs (instant death) or miss any fruit (you get three misses). Of course, you also want to hit every bonus you possibly can because that means unlocking new blades and backgrounds to make your gameplay a little more fun and colorful.

The main feature of this new game has to be the “Bandito” mode. It’s quite a tricky mode as there are 3 Acts and a Finale, with each Act containing four challenges. The challenges vary from hitting the fruit tied to balloons to hitting the fruit as they come rolling down to slicing mega fruits to bouncing fruits. This mode challenges your reflexes and your abilities not to hit the bombs and to hit all the fruits. Ha, not for me because my reflexes are apparently really slow.

After a while, Desperado mode does get boring. The only caveat for that mode is to slice 50 magic beans (or to hit 150 without slicing one) to get some snazzy bonuses. Desperado mode first starts out slow, allowing you to take your sweet (no pun intended) time to slice the fruit. As you start obtaining more points, the mode gets progressively harder - fruit start flying faster and you must avoid those bombs faster. If you so happen to lose a life, hit those magic beans. They give you extra lives (no wonder we love Puss more than Sensei).

If you want a challenge, try out Bandito. You’ll probably end up pulling out your hair or cursing, like I’ve been doing. I’m not known for having the best of reflexes and I will always end up hit that bomb. The accursed bomb! And you can’t take your sweet time with this - you’re given 15 seconds or so, depending on the difficulty of the challenge. And my, these challenges can indeed be challenging. For instance, you have a mega fruit that you must cut away in 15 seconds. Sounds easy? Wait till you slice it the first time. It splits into two, then each subsequent fruit that appears after being cut must be cut and cut until you slice all the fruit away. At the same time, you have bombs falling about. So you have bombs falling about and fruits jumping about, moving all over the screen. One false move and you lose a life. And if you’re a perfectionist like me, you’ll try to restart the level all over again. Too bad because if you are perfect until the third act, lose a life, then restart, you’ll go back all the way to Act I. So it’s better to stay where you are, even if you have lost a life or two.

With the numerous different challenges that can be found in Bandito, I say that this game is more fun than its predecessor. Though if you’re really good at these action games, you’ll unlock all those cool swords and backgrounds in a short time. And that will leave you with nothing to do. But if you want to challenge yourself, go ahead and play Bandito. After all, with none of the challenges the same each time you try the mode out, you’ll keep yourself mucho busy.

For more information or to purchase it, head here.